Afterthoughts - Dawson's Creek
by Goddess Isa
Summary: The series of Afterthoughts stories on Dawson's Creek from start to finish
1. Default Chapter

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, there was a beautiful prince named Leary. As beautiful as Leary was, he was just as dumb. The prince ruled with a rubber hand and wasn't able to do so much as order his cat to go to the bathroom outdoors. He was weak, but sweet, and wanted love to rule the land.  
  
  
Joey snorted, ripped the piece of paper up and tossed it in the trash can beside her bed. It was a stupid idea, this story. A mythical tale based on an experience you had over the summer. What kind of a teacher assigns such a thing?  
  
Although, Joey had to admit, seventy extra-credit points in English would guarantee her great grades this semester, which would help her get a scholarship for college.   
  
She sighed and started with a fresh page in her notebook. She closed her eyes and was about to fall asleep instead of write the paper when her phone rang, jolting her awake.  
  
"Hello?" she asked quietly.  
  
"Joey, where are you?" Dawson demanded.  
  
"Sleeping," she mumbled, yawning.  
  
"Movie night," he reminded her.  
  
"I'm on my way."  
  
She slammed her notebook shut, shoved it under the couch and left for Dawson's where she knew for sure that three things--ET, Snickers ice cream bars and Dawson himself--would be there waiting for her.


	2. Emotions In Motions

TITLE: Afterthoughts - Emotions In Motions  
AUTHOR: Goddess Isa  
EMAIL: goddessisa@aol.com  
SUMMARY: Joey has a teeny, tiny realization when she comes home from the "date"  
SPOILER: Emotions In Motions  
RATING: TV-PG  
DISTRIBUTION: Sure, just LMK where it's going. I like to see my name in print. =)  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own these wonderful works by Kevin Williamson. The guy is a God of screenwriting and I bow at his feet for temporarily stealing his characters for my own personal enlightenment. =)   
  
  
  
Bessie tossed the plug for the vacuum to Bodie. "Here, plug this in."   
  
He obliged as Joey walked in.   
  
"Oh good, Joey you're here," Bessie walked over and gave her a hug. "How was your date?"   
  
"It wasn't a date. Not for me anyway." she sat on the couch and tried to snatch the remote control away from Bodie. "Why the warm welcome?"   
  
Bessie used a foot and pushed the vacuum towards her sister. "Would you vacuum for me? I can't even bend over and chores are hard for me."   
  
"Let Bodie do it."   
  
He held up a cookbook. "I'm studying."   
  
Joey got her hands on the remote and turned MTV off. "Yeah, you're studying bikini babes."   
  
Bessie kicked some of her older toys, things she'd gotten out for the baby, out of the way. "You heard him, Joey, he's working."   
  
"I have homework." Joey stood up and walked into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.   
  
"Joey!" Bessie called.   
  
"Let her go," Bodie said. "She's at that age."   
  
"What age is that?"   
  
"Puberty."   
  
  
*****   
  
  
Joey snuck into the bathroom and retrieved her journal. She'd been writing in it before school that morning and when she ran out of time, she hit it behind all the cleaning supplies no one had used in years.   
  
She opened it and tears fell onto the page as she wrote.   
  
  
Today I totally blew any chance I might ever have with Dawson Leery.  
  
He sees me the way he would see his twin sister.  
  
What I wouldn't give to be the Jen Lindley of even one of his wet dreams.  



	3. Dirty Dancing

TITLE: Afterthoughts - Dirty Dancing  
AUTHOR: Goddess Isa   
EMAIL: goddessisa@aol.com  
SUMMARY: Jen goes for a walk and gets an eyeful  
SPOILER: Dirty Dancing  
RATING: TV-PG  
DISTRIBUTION: Sure, just LMK where it's going. I like to see my name in print. =)  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own these wonderful works by Kevin Williamson. The guy is a God of screenwriting and I bow at his feet for temporarily stealing his characters for my own personal enlightenment. =)   
  
  
  
Jen Lindley walked the streets of Capeside alone. She'd never been able to do that in New York. First of all, you wouldn't be safe, and secondly, even if you would've been safe, New York was so dark and closed in that you got goosebumps being anywhere by yourself after six o'clock. Even when she'd been boozed to death, Jen could never shake the freakish feeling the streets of the city gave her.   
  
She sighed as she walked, enjoying the night, the clear air. It was nearly midnight and she'd snuck out of her house after feeling almost numb stuck inside the walls of her bedroom. Dawson had walked her home an hour ago, and ever since she'd been up in her room, waiting for something to happen. Her grandmother to yell, the phone to ring, some sign that life hadn't stopped.   
  
She'd changed into sweat pants and a tee shirt and was lying on her bed, listening to nothing. That was the sound of Capeside at night: silence. She used some of the peace to write in her journal, but even after writing down every single thing she knew about Dawson Leery, she was antsy. She climbed out onto the roof and jumped down, landing thankfully without any injury.   
  
She'd stopped at the stand to buy a piece of salt water taffy as she had earlier, and as she chewed it, she mused about Dawson, mentally reliving her dance with him. She heard kissing noises all of a sudden, and they grew so loud that she had to open her eyes and make sure that she wasn't making them herself. She wasn't. Sighing, she moved down the pier to find out exactly who was getting busy under the moonlight. Her eyes widened at what they say.   
  
Pacey, furiously kissing a woman.   
  
Ms. Jacobs.   
  
Jen blinked a few times and ran away. "Girl, you have one wild imagination," she said under her breath. "Telling yourself you were seeing Pacey Witter kissing a teacher? God, you really do need to get laid. You're so lonely you've degraded yourself to thinking about your friends' sex lives."   
  
"No," Jen said louder this time. "I will not revert back to that life. I'm here now, and I'm going to start over. For once, I won't be the girl with the reputation." Jen returned home, crawled into bed and had pleasant dreams.   
  
Of Pacey.


	4. A Prelude To A Kiss

TITLE: Afterthoughts - Prelude To A Kiss  
AUTHOR: Goddess Isa  
EMAIL: goddessisa@aol.com  
SUMMARY: Strange happenings. Joey's been painting, I don't say what or why.  
SPOILER: A Prelude To A Kiss  
RATING: TV-PG  
DISTRIBUTION: Sure, just LMK where it's going. I like to see my name in print. =)   
DISCLAIMER: I do not own these wonderful works by Kevin Williamson. The guy is a God of screenwriting and I bow at his feet for temporarily stealing his characters for my own personal enlightenment. =)   
  
  
  
Joey climbed into Dawson's window with paint stuck to her fingers and in her hair. She'd decided to come over the way she was, without getting all fixed up first. She knew she could strap Pamela Anderson Lee's face to her body and he still wouldn't notice her as anything other than a sister. Anything more than the "What are we watching for Movie Night?" Joey he'd known for years.   
  
She pushed a brown-covered-in-blue strand behind her ears and sighed. "What are you doing? You look serious."   
  
"Watching this great mafia movie." he sat up Indian style and patted the sheet next to him. "Come on, I'll fill you in before the commercials end."   
  
Joey made a face. "A mafia movie? What class is this for?"   
  
"It's not. I just was flipping through and I got into it. Shhh, it's back. You'll have to follow along."   
  
"I'm sure I can manage," she sat next to him and folded her arms. "Everyone kills each other and then the last one living at the end starts the masacre all over again."   
  
"Very perceptive," Dawson complimented. "This one's different though."   
  
"No such thing. These movies are--"   
  
"Shhh," Dawson hushed her. "I have to be able to hear what's going on."   
  
Joey rolled her eyes but relented and leaned against the headboard to watch the show: Dawson. She watched him widen his eyes and lean in towards the screen. She pursed her lips as the sex scene unfolded and pushed all the dreams she held of living that scene out with Dawson into the back of her mind. She figured the only solution to her problem was to forget about him, Hope, at this point, was no longer an option.


	5. Carnal Knowledge

TITLE: Afterthoughts - Carnal Knowledge  
AUTHOR: Goddess Isa  
EMAIL: goddessisa@aol.com  
SUMMARY: Joey's journal entry...  
RATING: TV-PG  
SPOILER: SLIGHT S1  
DISCLAIMER: Kevin Williamson owns the characters herein. I don't.  
AUTHOR'S NOTES: No lie, I just thought of this and wrote it. Strange considering I haven't seen the episode in at least a year.  
8-2-01  
  
  
  
There is nothing that provides more peace and annoyance than a journal.   
  
Yes, I said peace and annoyance. You try fitting everything you have to say into this little book. And sometimes, there's just not enough time to get it all written down before it slips away from you, gone forever like your childhood, which, once you reach a certain age, you'd give anything to have back for just one day.   
  
See, tonight, all I want to do is scream.   
  
Loud.   
  
I don't care if I wake the dead or anything else. I just want to scream.   
  
Mrs. Leery has to be the most selfish woman on Earth. She has this funny, caring husband who'd wait up 'till all hours for her and where is she?   
  
Out to God knows where with her co-worker.   
  
I just can't believe it.   
  
It's making my whole body shake.   
  
I gotta talk about something else.   
  
  
*****   
  
  
"Joey!" Bessie banged on the door. "Unlock that latch and let me in this instant. I need my book of baby names."   
  
Joey rolled off the bed and found the book on the floor. She slid it under the door and smiled, satisfied with herself. "There." she said. "Go away."   
  
"You know, you're in *my* bedroom, Joey."   
  
"Yeah, well you *live* in my room, so I wouldn't be talking."   
  
Bessie shook her head and left.   
  
Joey took several deep breaths and returned to her journal.   
  
  
*****  
  
  
 No help needed on a new topic.   
  
Bessie.   
  
She's on the warpath lately. I know she's huge and eating for two and all, but she doesn't have the right to boss me around twenty-four-seven just because she's pregnant. Bodie can do the housework and everything, all she needs me for is waitressing at the Icehouse, and that's fine when she stays out of my way.  
  
I feel like I'm her slave. I know she's my guardian and my sister, but lately, she just seems like an ogre keeping me locked up in a dungeon.  
  
  
*****  
  
  
Bessie pounded furiously on the door. "Joey, get out of there! Dawson's here to see you."  
  
  
*****  
  
  
Hmm. Dawson. Maybe he brought over one of his silly movies. I could really use an escape from reality.  
  
  
*****  
  
  
More pounding. "Joey, come on! He brought Jen over, too!"  
  
  
*****  
  
  
So much for an escape from reality.  



	6. Blown Away

TITLE: Afterthoughts - Blown Away  
AUTHOR: Goddess Isa  
EMAIL: goddessisa@aol.com  
SUMMARY: Joey stirs awake during the night and writes about Dawson in her diary  
SPOILER: Blown Away  
RATING: TV-PG  
DISTRIBUTION: Sure, just LMK where it's going. I like to see my name in print. =) I DISCLAIMER: I do not own these wonderful works by Kevin Williamson. The guy is a God of screenwriting and I bow at his feet for temporarily stealing his characters for my own personal enlightenment. =)   
  
  
  
  
Joey Potter stirred awake around four a.m. The sky was clear, and Dawson was snoring beside her. She took advantage of the minute and softly leaned over him. She leaned closer and closer, her lips just seconds away from his. She was going in for the kiss, and then, she pulled away.   
  
Embarrassed, Joey leaned against the headboard and took some deep breaths. She pulled her backpack over to her and went in the closet.   
  
The light wasn't as she had hoped, but it was enough to see the lines on her journal paper. She opened her backpack and pulled it out. She hadn't realized that tears were falling down her face. They slipped off her cheeks and made little wet marks she couldn't write over on her blank page. She sniffled and put her pen to the paper.   
  
  
Well, Hurricane Chris missed Capeside today.  
  
Hurricanes Bob and Jen made direct hits.  
  
Right smack in the middle, destroying everything in their paths.  
  
I feel so bad for Dawson. His parents are a mess and Jen is just ready and waiting to wreak all possible havoc on his innocent soul. I hate her for it. She acts like she's my friend, then she tries to take away the only thing that means anything to me.  
  
And there's nothing I can do about it.  
  
I HATE myself for what I almost did just now.  
  
I'd fallen asleep on Dawson's bed, of course. Nothing unusual about that. But a few moments ago, I was having this amazing dream about us.  
  
We were walking across this bridge, looking down at this beautiful water. There were ducks in the water and we laughed and then he kissed me.  
  
I woke up from the dream slowly, almost like it was really happening and then disappearing from me.  
  
Then I looked over, and there he was next to me. Just like in my dreams. Only his arm wasn't around me and he wasn't looking at me. He was sound asleep, clutching his pillow.  
  
And, God, where was my head? I leaned over and tried to kiss him!!!!!  
  
How could I do that?  
  
How?  
  
What on Earth could make me want to--Oh God! I hate myself for it. Wonderful. Now I actually have something in common with Jen. I hate us both.  
  
And, if I had kissed him--what would have--If I had kissed Dawson, he kissed Jen earlier. It would have been like kissing her. Gross, gross, gross!!!   
  
  
*****   
  
  
A few hours later, Dawson's alarm sounded, waking them both up. Joey stayed where she was, the closet her sanctuary. She'd fallen asleep there after finishing her entry, and was lying on the floor, his corduroy jacket doubling as her pillow. She felt safe behind the closet doors, like if no one saw her, no one could hurt her.   
  
He peeked in and saw what he thought was a sleeping Joey. He gently touched her hair and whispered in her ear.   
  
"Morning Joey. Today's a new day. I just hope I can get through it."


End file.
